


Real Kisses

by toyhto



Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coop got out of the Black Lodge, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 07:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14351151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toyhto/pseuds/toyhto
Summary: In which Harry doesn't know what he's missing.





	Real Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, a bit more of lovely Dale Cooper and Harry S. Truman! This little story is quite angst-free and overall optimistic. I'm afraid someone might even call it fluff.
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](http://toyhto.tumblr.com)!

For a long time Harry S. Truman had known he would probably do anything Cooper would ask him to.  
  
“We should act normally,” Cooper said and took a firmer grip of Harry’s arm. “Kiss me, Harry.”  
  
Well, he had _known._ It just had never occurred to him that Cooper might ask him to…  
  
“Quickly,” Cooper said. “They’re already looking at us.”  
  
So, honestly, what else could he do? Cooper was staring at him with those innocent eyes that sometimes made him wonder how the hell Cooper had got this far alive and, if he thought about Cooper’s eyes for too long, what the hell he was doing. Cooper’s eyes always caught him. Even in the police station, through the room filled with people, maybe three, sometimes he found himself just looking into Cooper’s eyes, wondering if Cooper was already hungry and if they ought to go for lunch. Maybe there was something extraordinary about Cooper’s eyes. He should ask Cooper if the man wore contacts.  
  
Besides, he had agreed to this. When Cooper had suggested the two of them would go to this gathering of possibly corrupted politicians and that they’d do it disguised as a couple, had Harry said _no_? No. He hadn’t. He had nodded and then said _Coop, what do you mean by a couple._ Cooper had said _, Harry, have you ever been in a romantic relationship_ , but then Lucy had knocked on the door and asked if they wanted the donuts in the conference room or in the office.  
  
He wasn’t exactly sure why they were pretending to be a couple. Apparently it had something to do with the politicians being of a suspicious sort. _Romance_ , Cooper had said when they had already been in the parking lot and Harry had asked why they were holding hands, _no one can resist romance._  
  
What the hell then.  
  
He grabbed Cooper’s face in between his hands and leaned down to kiss the man on the mouth. Cooper seemed happy about the kiss. Harry couldn’t make sense of the words Cooper was muttering against his mouth, though. Cooper tasted of coffee, which was pretty much what Harry would’ve thought if he had ever thought about that at all. Which he hadn’t.  
  
Cooper placed both hands on Harry’s shoulders and pushed Harry gently away. Harry took a deep breath.  
  
“Great,” Cooper said, looking vaguely surprised, which was odd considering that the kiss had been Cooper’s idea in the first place. “I think we’ve got it covered now. But maybe I should lean to your shoulder. Just in case.”  
  
“Fine,” Harry said. Cooper straightened the hem of his coat and moved closer to him. He didn’t know what to do with his right arm that was kind of squeezed in between him and Cooper, so he held it behind Cooper’s back, placing the flat of his palm against Cooper’s lower back. Cooper looked happy. Probably Cooper had just spotted a criminal.  
  
  
**  
  
  
The kiss had been nice, though. Not that he was thinking about it. Because he wasn’t. They had been at work. It hadn’t been a real kiss. But it had been a long time since his last real kiss, so he couldn’t really tell the difference anymore. And he was certain Cooper had kissed him back. Cooper’s lips had parted. That’s what _kissing back_ meant. If Harry had had a bit more time, then maybe he could’ve figured out what exactly it had been about that kiss that had made it not real.  
  
For the whole evening he had been waiting for Cooper to kiss him again. He had held his hand against Cooper’s back. The fabric of Cooper’s coat had felt very nice against his fingertips. And after the both of them had had a glass of wine, for disguise of course, Cooper had been standing so close to him that he had felt Cooper’s breath on his neck. He had been _certain_ Cooper would kiss him again. But of course Cooper had found the goddamn criminal then and they had made a clumsy but efficient arrest. On the way back, the car had hummed and the woods had been lightless and the fed up politician had been sitting in the back seat, in handcuffs and watching them.  
  
Harry sighed, opened another beer and sat down on the sofa. It had been just one kiss. Cooper had probably forgotten about it already. And if Harry was feeling a bit lonely, it was only because he hadn’t been in a romantic relationship since Cooper had entered his life and Josie had died and all that. It had been almost five years now. Cooper was the closest he had to a partnership. No wonder he wanted to kiss Cooper again.  
  
  
**  
  
  
“Harry,” Cooper said, watching him over the desk covered with files and donuts, “I wondered if you wanted to help me with something.”  
  
“Of course, Coop,” he said and took another donut. A stray of Cooper’s hair had recently escaped the tight control of the hair product Cooper used. Probably the first thing Cooper did every morning was to fix his hair.  
  
“There has been a case of light bribery in the local clothing store. I think we should go and have a look. But they can’t know we’re having a look.”  
  
“Okay,” Harry said. Cooper’s eyes seemed darker than usual. Probably it was because of the light.  
  
“We should go there as a couple.”  
  
“Okay,” Harry said.  
  
“A romantic couple,” Cooper said, watching him with an intent look. But he got it. Cases with bribery were sometimes tricky, “in a romantic relationship. I think we should tell them we’re looking for something to wear in our wedding. That’ll make them forget you’re a local sheriff and I work for the FBI.”  
  
“Our wedding,” Harry said. That seemed logical.  
  
“Yes,” Cooper said.  
  
“We can’t get married, though,” Harry said. “It’s illegal.”  
  
“Yes, I’m afraid it is,” Cooper said. “But we’ll say we’re having a party for family and friends anyway. It counts.”  
  
“Of course it counts,” Harry said. “Fine. When do we go there?”  
  
“How about after lunch?” Cooper said and then seemed to remember something. “Harry, I’m afraid we might have to kiss again.”  
  
“I don’t mind.”  
  
“Great,” Cooper said, smiling at him. He loved it when Cooper smiled at him. Probably Cooper just had an abnormally charming face.  
  
  
**  
  
  
Cooper almost didn’t kiss him at all. Cooper had already tried on four seemingly identical suits when Harry told him that the white in the collar looked really nice with his skin. Cooper smiled, dropped the smile, smiled again, took a step forward, and kissed him on the mouth.  
  
It was over too quickly, but otherwise it was a perfectly good kiss. Harry tried to linger in it but the shop-keeper came back and Cooper took a step away from him.  
  
“I’m going to buy this one,” Cooper said, looking slightly flushed.  
  
Later, Cooper drove him home. He had forgotten his own car in the parking lot when he had followed Cooper out of the store. Cooper had been oddly quiet for the whole day. The sun was falling down behind the tree tops and Cooper really ought to have get the windowsill cleaned.  
  
“Coop,” he said. Perhaps he could do it. It would take five minutes.  
  
“Harry,” Cooper said in an oddly thin voice. Harry wished Cooper wouldn’t catch a cold. The police station always felt so empty when Cooper was away.  
  
“I could clean your windowsill.”  
  
“What,” Cooper said, blinking. “ _Oh._ Thank you, Harry. I can do it myself.”  
  
“I know,” Harry said, “I just…”  
  
But he didn’t have a clue what he _just._  
  
“Good night, Harry,” Cooper said and smiled at him. His knees felt suddenly weak, which possibly meant that he was going to catch a cold as well. “See you tomorrow.”  
  
“See you, Coop,” he said. “Good night.”  
  
“I’ll pick you up in the morning,” Cooper said, “because, you know, you forgot your car when we were shopping clothes for the wedding.”  
  
“Thank you, Coop,” Harry said.  
  
  
**  
  
  
“I’ve been tracking this smuggler for a week now,” Cooper said, sitting down on Harry’s desk and passing him the file and a donut. “He’s been seen in a town not far from Twin Peaks. Would you have time to go there with me?”  
  
“Of course, Coop,” Harry said. Their fingers brushed when he took the file and the donut from Cooper. Cooper’s fingers were nicely warm.  
  
“I think we should tell people we’re a couple,” Cooper said, staring at the file.  
  
“Okay,” Harry said. “So, what’re we dealing with? Drugs?”  
  
“Yes,” Cooper said in a somewhat distracted voice, “a lot of drugs. Also cocaine. You don’t really mind, do you, Harry?”  
  
“Mind what?”  
  
“Us,” Cooper said and cleared his throat, “you and me, Harry. You don’t mind telling people we’re a couple.”  
  
“Of course not,” Harry said. It was for the investigation. And Dale Cooper was quite possibly the most brilliant human being he’d ever met.  
  
“Well, then,” Cooper said and took another donut, only now he was holding two and seemed not to know what to do with them, “I’m glad. I should probably go to my office.”  
  
“You can stay here,” Harry said, pushing a few papers aside so that they wouldn’t get too mixed with the donuts. “I work better when you’re in the room. I think it’s got to do with your face.”  
  
Cooper seemed oddly happy about that.  
  
  
**  
  
  
Harry remembered he had forgotten his car only when Cooper was already driving him home. Well, he didn’t mind. It had been a very good day. They had kissed a couple of times. Once, a local police officer had seen them and asked them quite awkwardly how they had gotten together. Cooper had told a very convincing story about how he and Harry had met when they had been investigating Laura Palmer’s murder. The case had been tricky and they had become close, so close in fact that afterwards Cooper had found himself wondering, if it were possible to be an FBI agent and still live in an odd little town like Twin Peaks.  
  
“That’s so romantic,” the police officer had said in a longing voice.  
  
“It hasn’t been, actually,” Cooper had said, eyeing Harry. “It’s more like we’re best friends. We’ve been best friends for years. It just sort of happened.” And Harry had nodded. Later, when they had been alone in the parking lot, Cooper had kissed him particularly wetly. He had kissed Cooper back, wondering vaguely what it had to do with the investigation.  
  
“We’re here,” Cooper said now.  
  
Harry blinked. It seemed that they were at his house. Cooper had stopped the car and was now holding the wheel with both hands. Maybe arresting the smuggler had made Cooper tired.  
  
“Harry,” Cooper said, watching the dark woods through the windowsill, “do you have coffee?”  
  
“Of course, Coop.”  
  
“Okay,” Cooper said, flinched and then grabbed the wheel more tightly. “Would you mind making some?”  
  
“No,” Harry said, “but I don’t usually drink coffee this late.”  
  
“Me, neither,” Cooper said quickly, “but I thought… do you have whiskey?”  
  
“I think so,” Harry said.  
  
“Great,” Cooper said.  
  
“Great,” Harry said. It was dark in the car but it seemed Cooper was watching his mouth. He rubbed his lower lip. Maybe he had sugar on it. They had eaten a few donuts after they had arrested the smuggler.  
  
“Harry,” Cooper said. His voice was suddenly hoarse. “Please, ask me to come in.”  
  
“Of course,” Harry said. “Come in, Coop.” Maybe Cooper wanted to talk to him about the smuggler.  
  
  
**  
  
  
It turned out that Cooper didn’t want to talk to him about the smuggler.  
  
“Harry,” Cooper said, sitting on the edge of Harry’s bed, looking at everything but Harry. “Harry, I…”  
  
“Yes?” Harry said. He felt a little undressed in his underpants and socks but then again, it was almost midnight and they were going to go to bed soon.  
  
“This,” Cooper said and cleared his throat, “you. And me. You and me. Us. I was hoping that…” It seemed almost as if Cooper had trouble trying to find right words. But Cooper always knew what to say. Something was wrong.  
  
“Are you leaving me?” Harry asked more sharply than he had meant to. “I mean, Twin Peaks?”  
  
“Of course not,” Cooper said, looking slightly shaken. “Harry, the problem is that…”  
  
“Yes?” This was bad. Harry didn’t even know what could be worse than Cooper leaving him.  
  
“I don’t know what we _are,_ ” Cooper said and took a deep breath. Cooper was still wearing his suit but had loosened his tie after the second glass of whiskey.  
  
Harry blinked. It seemed logical to assume that Cooper would take off his tie before they went to the bed. And then, possibly, Cooper would put away the coat, open the buttons of his shirt and push it slowly off his shoulders -  
  
“I think I’m in love with you, Harry,” Cooper said.


End file.
